Month-to-Month

=Month-to-Month = by Kelly Granfield kellygranfield@hotmail.com



Instructional Objective
The learners will learn to budget their money and see how expensive real life is. They will learn this based on what they are able to afford on their salary, and see what what they will need to pay for (such as entertainment, car costs, living expenses) based on the different opportunities and bills used in this game. =Standards= __ **Economics & Personal Finance Achievement Standards** __
 * PERSONAL FINANCE**

Achievement Standard: Identify various forms of income and analyze factors that affect income as a part of the career decision-making process. Achievement Standard: Develop and evaluate a spending/savings plan. Achievement Standard: Evaluate savings and investment options to meet short- and long-term goals.
 * II. Earning a Living**
 * III. Managing Finances and Budgeting**
 * IV. Saving and Investing**

__**Challenge Standards-Business Education**__


 * 1.3.1 Career Exploration** - Explore career opportunities and projected trends; investigate required education, training and experience; and develop an individual education plan for life long learning
 * 1.3.4 Interest Assessment** - Examine aptitudes related to career options; relate personal characteristics and interests to educational and occupational opportunities

Learners & Context of Use
The game Month-to-Month is designed for high school and college students, ages 12-22. Students in 9-12 grades would play this at school, before and after completing a personal budget in Business class. The game is complete with everything necessary and may be played in any classroom setting. Month-to-Month is designed to be played more than once, as each time they play the game they may be given a different career and have to go through the game with a new salary each month, as well as contemplate and go through different random situations. Prior to the game the board would need to be set up with the cards in their respective piles, the bank money separated and the career cards selected. Each player begins the game with their monthly salary. The game ends after each player has completed 12 months around the board; each players money is counted and the winner is the one with the most money.

Competing Products
[|Payday], a game by Parker Brothers, is similar where the span of a month is the layout of the board, and money (the same amount to all) is given to each player each time they pass around the board, and the players must pay bills each month as they go around the board. Month-to-Month is similar to Monopoly, also by Parker Brothers, in the layout of the board, as well as landing on specific spaces and drawing respective cards, and collecting money each time around the board. It is similar in that the winner is the one with the most money in the end as well.

Month-to-Month is different and better than Payday, in that the game is more realistic in purchasing and paying for items (not buying real estate deals, as in Payday) on a monthly basis, such as rent, a car, insurance, house bills, etc. Additionally, each player is competing based on different scenarios, so no two players will be working based upon the same situation. According to [|Board Game Geek], there ia a game called "Budget" that has a similar premise. The [|Educational Learning Games catalog] goes into more detail about the game, describing the real-life economics experienced within the game such as puchasing or renting a home, paying insurance, buying groceries, etc.

**Object of the Game**
The goal of the game is to end up with the most money (and not go bankrupt!!). Each player must complete a full year (12 times around the board, each time around equals one month).

Content Analysis
Board Game Content Analysis

Game Materials
1 Game Board 1 Die 6 Game pieces 1 Calculator 1 Hole puncher 1 Rules Sheet 6 Career cards 30 Opportunities cards (blue with a door on them) 10 Car cards (pink with a car on them) 30 Tire cards (peach with a tire on them) 60 Bills cards (yellow with an envelope on them) 1 Bank

All pieces may be printed out from here:

Time Required
Month-to-Month would take about five minutes to set up. The cards would all need to be placed on the game board and the money laid out in the bank. (All materials need to be printed on cardstock paper, and the game pieces need to be placed in a plastic clip so they are able to stand upright).The game will take approximately an hour to play. I don't believe one would carry a game over several periods of the same play, though the game is definitely able to be played over and over, as each time the player may have a different career being dealt a new salary as well as drawing random cards for opportunities, etc.

The Rules

 * 1.** Set up the game board by placing the cards in their respective piles.

2. Select one player to be the game's banker.

3. The youngest player selects their by random draw first, then clockwise around the board.

4. Each player begins with their respective salary:
 * Teacher: $3,830
 * Police Officer: $3,580
 * Accountant: $3,330
 * Architect: $3,080
 * Carpenter: $2,830
 * Auto Technician: $2,500

5. The youngest player rolls the die once and moves the respective number of spaces around the board, continuing in a clockwise direction.

6. When a player lands on the following spaces they must draw a card:

//If you own a car, you must draw a card when you land on this space. Pay it immediately, and discard to pile.// //(Ex., Car breaks down, Pay for gas, Speeding Ticket)//

//Each player must pick up a card upon landing on this space//**.** //Save to pay at the end of the month, and discard to pile upon payment.// //(Ex., Pay rent, Buy groceries, Pay cable bill, etc.)//

//Each player must pick up a card upon landing on this space. Pay or collect money immediately, and discard to pile.// //(Ex., Promotion, Go to movies, Get a second job, Go to Chargers game)//

//Each player may select a card if they wish to consider purchasing a car.// //If you decide to purchase the car, save card and pay car payment at end of month with other bills. If you do not wish to purchase the car, discard to pile.// //You may trade cars each time you land on the space (discard unused car to pile).//

7. If a player has possession of a car, they are able to double the roll on the die and move the amount of the total roll during each turn, in order to get around the board faster.

8. The additional spaces on the board indicate:

//Payday square! As you begin each month you will collect your salary.//

//It's the weekend, relax!!!//

//All players must stop on this square (no exact roll needed), they may not pass it. All players must pay their bills, otherwise they will need to pay an additional 10% in interest for any unpaid bills after the beginning of the next month.//

9. If you become bankrupt along the way (run out of money for opportunities, etc.), you may take a loan from the bank, at a 20% interest rate.

10. Each player must complete 12 months of play (12 times around the board), shown by a holepunch in each month of the game piece. Upon completing 12 months, the following bonuses are awarded for the first three players in:
 * 1st = $3,000
 * 2nd = $2,000
 * 3rd = $1,000

**Motivational Issues**
Month-to-Month engages the learner by being realistic. The game is very similar to Payday, Life and Monopoly. Curiosity is enveloped through the different cards; bills need to be paid, unexpected events occur, opportunities arise, and there is a realization as to the price of everything in life. The game is challenging, where a player is dealt a certain amount of money and needs to play the game accordingly, as another player may be dealt with a higher/lower salary, as well as having multiple decisions to make throughout the game. There isn't much control in the game, as the rolling of the die and selection of random cards is random, though some control lies in certain decisions along the way. Fantasy is created among the players, as they are able to imagine themselves living on their own as adults with responsibilities and no one to answer to, such as their parents. Competition is the main part of the game, as the winner is the player who has the most money at the end of the game.

When completing this design document, I looked at the three theories of Intrinsic Motivation we discussed in class, and believe Month-to-Month focuses on the following aspects of each: > > Challenge: //In Month-to-Month the objective is to work with the salary you are given, the rolls of the die and the cards you have selected and come out on top with the most money.// > Control: //Each player has control over certain decisions, such as buying a car, and is able to strategize based on these decisions.// > Fantasy: //Young players are able to fantasize as to life on their own once they are no longer under the control of their parents. They are able to experience the opportunities and decisions they will need to make as adults.// > Competition: //The one with the most money wins!// > Recognition: //The first three to finish 12 months win an additional bonus upon completion.// > > Attention: //The game plays out on a bright, colorful board, with colorful cards.// > Relevance: //This game is a mirror of the real world and what happens during life.// > Satisfaction: //Month-to-Month is gratifying as you earn money and are able to pay for your bills (hopefully!)// > > Merging of action and awareness; //the players must play out the twelve rounds of the game, while monitoring where the other players are at as well as each player's money level.// > Concentration on the task at hand; //the players need to focus on completing twelves times around the board while watching their money level. They need to make sure they are able to pay all of their bills.// > Transformation of time; //the players are looking forward to a life ahead of them, or are putting themselves into someone else's life.//
 * 1) Malone and Lepper's factors describing what makes learning fun:
 * 1) Keller's ARCS model:
 * 1) Csikszentmihaly's Conditions of Flow:

**Design Process**
My first thoughts when putting this game together was to live a monthly budget. Next I determined that I would have the players play out a year of life, and decided the board should be over the time span of the month, and went based off of the Monopoly game board style. I spent a lot of time on designing the actual board, which helped me come up with the different types of card that would be needed and used throughout the game.

Next I thought about how I wanted to have slight differences in the game In an effort to enhance the game and make it more interesting each time it is played by encouraging different strategies in separate scenarios, I wanted the students to look at life from different vantage points and therefore decided to have career levels associated with different salary levels. At first I considered a special die to roll in order to select the career at the beginning, though after a while I realized that someone may end up rolling the die and receiving the same career. In order to change this problem, I decided on creating career cards for each player to select. However, now re-thinking this change, I could still use the die to roll to select the players' careers and if two have the same, then so be it! The only necessary change would then need to be the addition of more game pieces.

I gathered background information based on a personal budget assignment I do with my students ([|webquest address]). I went to the websites I send them to in their research for the project in order to look up realistic dollar amounts for salaries, apartments, etc. Additionally, my own personal experience in living life has helped, as well as dilemmas my friends and family have gone through helped me create many of the opportunity and car related cards. I looked at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/ to see if there are similar games out there besides Payday, which I already knew about. The only other one listed on this site was called Budget, though there was not much information on it besides a brief blurb describing the game. In this description the idea was similar, though I was not able to find out who made it or when it was made.

In order to get feedback on the idea, I asked my friends, family and students for ideas. My friends and family proved to be very helpful with different occurrences that come up in their lives to include in the game. The students shared with me that they would like to play this game after we completed the budgeting unit.

I fleshed out the game to having a playable prototype, by quasi-playing with a couple friends. Without printing out the actual board and cards, we made a similar board on scratch paper and had an additional person randomly select cards from off of the computer. By going through this mock play, I realized I needed to specify a few more of the rules, change some of the wording on the cards, add in the use of a calculator, and add in a loan option in case of bankruptcy (which did occur). My friends provided me this feedback throughout the game, as well as my own observations. Another realization which occurred, is that

The major lesson I learned from designing this game that I'll carry forward to my next game design project, is to spend a lot of time on the development. I spent a large amount of time designing the game, though still felt rushed with due dates, etc. For my next game, I will be on my own timeline and pace and not feel so stressed. Additionally, I learned that you really learn a lot after playtesting the actual game. I learned first from the quasi-play with my friends, then I had a class of seniors who are completing the budget project play the game and learned a ton from their evaluations. I had them complete the Game Evaluation Criteria created by Mike Compton. My results came from 15 students who playtested the game. The following show responses to the game based on the Likert scale from 1-7:


 * **__Criteria__** || **__1__** || **__2__** || **__3__** || **__4__** || **__5__** || **__6__** || **__7__** || **__Average__** ||
 * Clarity || 1 || 1 || 4 || 1 || 4 || 0 || 4 || 4.47 ||
 * Flow || 2 || 2 || 3 || 0 || 5 || 0 || 3 || 4.07 ||
 * Balance || 0 || 3 || 5 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 6 || 4.53 ||
 * Length || 1 || 3 || 2 || 0 || 5 || 0 || 4 || 4.40 ||
 * Integration || 1 || 0 || 6 || 0 || 2 || 0 || 6 || 4.73 ||
 * Fun || 0 || 0 || 6 || 2 || 3 || 0 || 4 || 4.6 ||

Additionally, the following comments were made regarding the questions listed on the last half of the evaluation:

Going forward, I will institute multiple trial plays throughout the development phase, making changes and updates along the way. A few changes I will make to the game in order to take into account my playtesters' comments and to use the game again next semester, are:
 * **__Strongest point__** || **__Weakest Point__** || **__Change to be made__** || **__Similar game__**** ||
 * 5 - Use money || 3 - Have to stop at stop sign || 3 - Make it longer || 11 - Monopoly ||
 * 4 - Real life game/collect salary || 2 - Too many rules || 3 - No answer || 4 - No answer ||
 * 2 - Game board structure || 2 - Paying interest and bills || 2 - Rules ||  ||
 * 2 - Pay bills/learn to spend money || 3- No answer || 2 - More excitement and action ||  ||
 * 1 - Purpose/theme || 1 - Game too short || 1 - Add another die ||  ||
 * 1 - Calendar use || 1 - Game to slow || 1 - No stop sign ||  ||
 * || 1 - Repetitive || 1 - Calendar game piece ||  ||
 * || 1 - Too much money at end ||  ||   ||
 * || 1 -Bank ran out of money ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Create a set rent and taxes to be paid based on the salary of the occupation selected (in order to alleviate the bank running out of money, and the players ending with too much money and nothing to spend it on.
 * I will need to come up with a few more exciting cards that will move the players more randomly.
 * I will need to make the board larger, in order to make the game longer. I am thinking of adding Saturday and Sunday to each side of the board and then making the corner spaces special squares.
 * I will keep the calendar piece game, though need to find a plastic piece to have it stand up in to be able to move around the board.

A few changes I will keep despite what the playtesters stated:
 * Repetitive factor - game is intended to play out over a monthly period and be repetitive.
 * Add another die - I feel doubling the roll is sufficient in order to speed up the car, plus adds another element of reason as to whether or not to purchase a car.
 * No stop sign - This is an important factor showing that bills need to be played at the end of each month, and if they are not, they will acquire an interest fee.